The Great Wall

[Drunk Monk]

$150 M = meh. This would've been good if it wasn't so overhyped. Damon, Dafoe, and my fav Andy Lau all underperform. Jing Tian is ok - at least she has cool armor. Zhang Yimou tries to poach Kurosawa's Ran with colored standards but falls short. The taotie would've been better if they were tripods, but that's lost on Americans. Weak 3D. Absurd physics. Dumb cgi archery. A funny Spaniard. 

Hollywood will lambast this as a fail at the US box office, but it's already cleared $200 M worldwide so they made their money back at least.

[Drunk Monk]

My fav thing was the nunchuk drumming. That's all. Honorable mention for the taotie carapaces, but like I said, they should've been tripods. That would've been more novel than devil hounds and a nod to the source material.

[El Dingo]

Just saw this on Blu-ray.

Very heavy on the 3-D shots. Unfortunately I was watching it in 2D so it was merely irritating. I kind of wish I'd seen it in 3D because it was obviously what the director wanted.

The writing and acting were meh. The backstory of 'Black Powder' and why there were white people in China was weak.
 

I think I would have liked it better if I had turned the sound off and played a Muse album really loud. Massive sets, epic battle sequences, lots of acrobatic fight choreography, monsters, explosions and medieval Power Ranger armor.

[Drunk Monk]

I think I would have liked it better if I had turned the sound off and played a Muse album really loud. 

Guess where I'm going next?     Will I see you there?  You know where I'll be.  

I agree with you completely about this film.  And it actually wasn't that good in 3D.  The first wall diving scene was okay, but the rest failed to impress.

[El Dingo]

No - I hate The Shoreline. The drive, the traffic, the parking, the sound, the food ... One of my coworkers is going. He said his LifeHack is to park at Costco and walk for 30 minutes. It's a long walk but it beats the after-show congestion.

I like Muse, but it pretty much takes a Pink Floyd reunion to get me to Shoreline.

[Drunk Monk]

Preferential parking. Rank hath its privileges